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Lawyer Points To 9/11-College Link

An Anonymous Patron points to a An AP Piece that reports a federal prosecutor said Two of the Sept. 11 hijackers used a public-access computer at a New Jersey college library to buy tickets for the plane they seized and crashed into the Pentagon. Ken Wainstein, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, made the disclosure Thursday during a congressional hearing in which the Bush administration pushed for renewal of provisions of the Patriot Act that make it easier for investigators to obtain library and other records.

Wainstein did not identify the college. But an official with William Paterson University in Wayne - the state college closest to where the hijackers lived just before the attacks - said investigators had seized several public-access computers from the library shortly after the attacks.

This sounds like the computers were seized prior to the passage of USAPA in late October 2001.Far from showing the need for a USAPA renewal, as James Sensenbrenner asserts, it shows that investigators already had the tools they needed.

If obtaining library records in a genuine investigation by authorities helps to prevent acts of terrorism or to catch those responsible, then I'm all for it. At the same time, there has to be safeguards so that unauthorised access or abuse is prohibited. So, there has to be a balance.